Subreddits you may also enjoy

Disclaimer

Reddit, r/investing and its moderators assume no responsibility for the accuracy, completeness or objectivity of the information presented on r/investing. r/investing does not endorse any recommendation or opinion made by any member, nor do any users or moderators of r/investing advocate the purchase or sale of any security or investment. You are responsible for your own investment decisions. Please consult with a registered investment advisor before making any investment decision.

Title explains itself - every stock seems to be at about 15-25% of what it was around 2008. If anyone could shed some light on this, and what you think the best 'solar investments' are I would be greatly appreciated!

US-based solar companies were a promising area for investment until the Chinese government started offering huge subsidies to their own solar companies. US firms just can't compete when the Chinese gov is bankrolling the industry in their country.

That's not the only reason, but it's a big one. There was also a bit of a solar bubble a couple of years ago, the stocks were just overpriced compared to company performance.

Yeah, so these companies are involved with utility submetering, which means they install these devices that monitor energy (e.g., electricity) that is used by a building, home, town, school, etc. This data is part of the "smart grid" and helps combined more efficiently allocate power and resources based on response data. I hold one company in my portfolio called EnerNOC, which is up about 45% over the last month or so. But there are other companies, just search ENOC on google finance and check out the competitors.

Awesome thanks for the tip! Is your thought on this investment somewhere along the lines of, "No matter the power source it is still going to have to be allocated in an efficient manner...." - because that makes a lot of sense to me XD.

There was an oversupply of solar panels due to Chinese subsidies. Solar stocks won't take off again unless oil goes WAY higher or the cost of producing electricity by way of solar power goes way down (not expected to happen until another 10-15 years). The best solar stocks right now are companies that also do some sort of business outside of solar energy - I think FSLR is one.

My guess is that in 2008, the US Senate and House of Representatives were controlled by the Democrats who are traditionally friendly to alternative energy investment and now the House is controlled by Republicans who are less friendly to solar and more friendly to traditional energy. This means that solar would not receive subsidies as it has in the past and is not considered an area of growth worthy of investment.

In 2008 it appeared solar was the future. Governments around the world were increasingly demanding (and funding) more installations. Polysilicon prices were skyrocketing, creating the perception there was a gigantic opportunity to invest in non silicon based solar, i.e. thin-film. Investors flocked to anything solar believing in exponential growth.

Then the Chinese decided they wanted in. They built massive polysilicon plants, crushing the price of polysilicon thus crushing the price of ordinary silicon wafer tech. Various US companies whom had expected higher prices were crushed and went bankrupt( Solyndra, ENER...). Investors fled. The Chinese continued building plants, completely oversupplying the market and even destroyed their own abilty to make a profit.
Also, various European countries lowered(eliminated??) their solar subsidies dued to poor financial health.

As for investing now, I guess the US companies that were going to fail have already done so. Many Chinese companies still have massive debt loads which seems more dubious. FSLR seems the best bet to me if we're going to have another big solar rally.

I have been following solar since 2010. This is the best explanation. Solar took a dip at around march 2010 because of the subsidy cut by various European nations in the middle of the euro crisis. That at point, inventories piled up as well as new orders dried out which resulted in massive liquidation of solar panels at a cheaper price. Write down was huge which made the stock price to plunge.

One thing that other posters haven't mentioned, is that there was a silicon supply shortage a few years ago that had ripples throughout the value chain and increased prices and profits. The solar panel market has been very cutthroat with low profit margins for a number of years. I'm not sure any panel makers have done well since 2008, but I haven't been keeping close track.